Friday 13 means in many countries bad luck. France, Austria and seven other countries in Europe are probably agreeing with that now as yesterday, January the 13, the US based ratings agency Standard & Poor’s cut France and Austria triple -A rating by one notch to AA+, and downgraded the other seven countries -Spain, Italy, Portugal, Malta, Cyprus, Slovakia and Slovenia two notches. Read the rest of this entry »

There was not much talk about the euro crisis during the Christmas holidays. For a few days we almost pretended everything was well and we could relax. But now just when many have realized that January is going to be a hard month, never mind that we tried to be careful with the expenses, we have been hit with the euro sliding to below $1.27, the lowest since September 2010 Read the rest of this entry »

Summits, reunions, meetings… and yet no solutions for the economic problems the EU is suffering from. In reality, we should recognize that the situation is critical and we have to start now to cure it and even so, as the German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said there is no easy fix to the European financial crisis. Read the rest of this entry »

Located in the French Riviera, Keyboard Politics is in a “privileged” position to witness all the incredible happenings taking place in Cannes for the G-20 summit. From Menton, in the border with Italy, to Cannes, the area is controlled by a large display of police. Many people had the new experience of having their cars checked in the border what was something rarely taking place since the elimination of border posts among the EU countries. Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday we wrote about the US federal debt and the possibility of a potentially disastrous default were the problem go on unresolved. Today it is the turn of the EU and its financially troubled nations which are on the brink of economic collapse. Read the rest of this entry »

As we reported on May 26 “the Palestinian unity agreement came as a prelude to the Palestinian plans to seek full recognition of statehood from the United Nations something both the US and Israel are against.” Now trying to avoid a large dispute at the UN in September, EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton has launched a bold idea. Read the rest of this entry »

As we already reported on May 6, the influx of African migrants trying to reach Europe has created concern in some European countries and has given a reason to others to try to reform the rules of the Schengen accord with the aim to reimpose border control in the EU. On Wednesday, Denmark announced plans to set up customs booths at land border crossings, harbors and airports. Read the rest of this entry »